Hamilton - hip-hop Broadway musical about the life of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton

[Space Pirate Roberts]

Yeah, this is old news, but I don't think it's been talked about here much if at all. I don't think musicals are really TNL's thing in general, but even if you generally don't like them, you have to check this out:


And here's a playlist for the whole soundtrack (minus the opening number - that version got yanked). The whole thing is amazing, but I particularly like the cabinet-meeting-as-rap-battle songs. Fair warning: don't listen past track 38 unless you're either prepared to be reduced to a sobbing puddle, or an Internet Tough Guy™.

I really want to see this live, but never mind the cost of travel to and lodging in New York and the tickets themselves, I don't have to worry about that because apparently it's sold out for the next YEAR. They've already announced a touring production, but obviously that won't have the original cast, and that's a bigger deal than usual since the guy playing Alexander also wrote the damn thing, so anybody else in the role would probably feel like seeing a cover band.

Damn, was Jefferson such an ass irl?

[Satsuki]

I wasn't going to play the broadway lotto game when I was in NYC, but I really want to see this. With I could have seen it with Miranda as the lead but i don't think that will happen. The older I get the more I realize how important musicals are to cultural history, I'm happy Hamilton has renewed some interest in musical theatre.

[Josh]

Musicals can be difficult for me, but I can listen to opera without any issue. It's probably because I can't understand the lyrics.

This one seems pretty interesting though. It's different, and that's always good.

[Frogacuda]

This is really good. I couldn't convince anyone to go with me back when it was theoretically possible to get tickets without selling a kidney, but I listened to the whole soundtrack and, since it's a sung-through musical you can follow it pretty well that way. The ending is indeed a tear jerker, and I've heard the live version even moreso.

It's a goofy concept, but it's actually a pretty good history lesson, too. It's amazingly dense for such a long show.

I wasn't going to play the broadway lotto game when I was in NYC, but I really want to see this. With I could have seen it with Miranda as the lead but i don't think that will happen. The older I get the more I realize how important musicals are to cultural history, I'm happy Hamilton has renewed some interest in musical theatre.

Were you able to see any while you were in the city? Broadway's such a unique phenomenon, it's one of the only places you'll see shows that are that expensive and elaborately produced. I never went before a couple years ago (seen plays, of course, but not on Broadway), but I've seen like five in the last two years (Randy Newman's Faust, Fish in the Dark, Aladdin, Little Shop of Horrors, and American Psycho) and plan to see at least two more before the year's out.

[Diff-chan]

Musicals are awful.

And too fucking expensive, at least in NYC. It's all for tourists these days.

[Frogacuda]

Musicals are awful.

That's a pretty ridiculously broad statement. There are a lot of stupid, pointless musicals, but also some really smart ones. This I think falls into the latter.

It wasn't even supposed to be a musical, actually, it was a hip-hop concept album, that grew into a musical. Here's a clip from 2009:

And too fucking expensive, at least in NYC.

No argument, New York theater is big money, tix are way overpriced. There are a lot of lotteries, standbys, student discounts etc that you can use to get cheaper tickets if you don't mind being on the upper level though.

It's all for tourists these days.

Yeah, if you're going to Lion King or Le Mis or something, sure. My ex took me to Aladdin and it was all these fat soccer moms from the midwest. But most Broadway shows don't pull in a lot of tourists. New York has this huge base of mostly older, snooty upper-middle class theatergoers (like 75% women, too), who dress up fancy and go to plays. Other than Aladdin, the shows I've seen have mostly been the latter.

A show like Hamilton that's sold out a year in advance has a bit of everybody. Like Book of Mormon it kind of transcends generalizations about the "Broadway" audience.

[Diff-chan]

70% of tickets are sold to tourists.

Hamilton sounds like cultural appropriation to me.

[Some Stupid Japanese Name]

That's a pretty ridiculously broad statement.

Yeah, very atypical of Diff.

[Frogacuda]

Hamilton sounds like cultural appropriation to me.

I'm not sure if you're trying to be cute and accusing a Puerto Rican of appropriating white culture, or if you just don't know anything about it.

The guy starring in the show is also the guy who wrote all the lyrics and music. There is no white cabal using his ethnicity as a prop.

70% of tickets are sold to tourists.

No, 70% of the unique people who go to Broadway are tourists, which is different than ticket sales. Tourists go to one of these shows every 10 years, but locals go often, so they're more ticket sales. Like a third of ticket sales are to people who see more than one show a month. And these people obviously aren't going to those same 5 shows that run for 20 years and bring in the tourists like crazy, because they've already seen them.

[Josh]

Ask your mom about my tentpole show.